Laurie went downtown to shop at Organic Wednesday at Pike Place Market. Iris and I went to a bouncy castle. “What would you like from the market?” Laurie asked.
I had been reading Orangette. “Morels,” I replied. “If they’re, say, $16 a pound or less.”
They were $17.75. Laurie came back with four ounces or so. I will keep her around.
I made that Tuscan-style steak salad for dinner, with arugula and shaved parmesan. I made Orangette’s creamed morels. When dinner was ready, I sawed off a chunk of rustic toast and put a few morels and a piece of steak on it.
“Oh, man,” I said. (“Oh, man” is the highest praise I dole out. I’d like to say it used to be something more grownup like “holy fuck” before we had Iris, but actually I think it’s always been “oh, man.”) I hope this isn’t the very last gasp of morel season, because I need a steak sandwich with morels, stat.
The rest of my toast was hiding under the salad. When I was done with a lot of steak and arugula and cheese, I piled morels on the glistening toast and ate it.
Laurie has claimed in the past not to like morels. So why did the bowl shuttle across the table so many times, and why did I catch her scraping the sheen of morel-flavored cream with her toast after I finished off the mushrooms?
(Iris claims not to like morels. I gave her a piece and she threw it. We’ll see what happens next time. They get their hooks in.)
Kurt of Grandview Mushrooms usually has some of the best prices on good morels at the Pike Place Market, and he usually comes in to the day stalls on Sundays. I haven’t seen him for about two or three weeks, though, so I’m not sure what he’s up to.
i like to imagine that at the mamster household, all three of you express your extreme enjoyment or displeasure–in anything–by either exclaiming “oh, man!” or by throwing whatever it is.
food, library books, small articles of ikea furnishings…
That is surprisingly accurate.
I developed an allergy to mushrooms, but I still miss morels. When I was little, we’d go into the woods, pick them, and my mother would lightly dredge them in flour and cook them in bacon grease. Absolutely yummery!
Are you definitely allergic to morels? I know this is an obnoxious question, but I ask only because they’re in a different phylum from nearly all other edible mushrooms and therefore it is at least plausible that one could be allergic to creminis, boletes, hen of the woods, chanterelles, shiitakes, and not morels.
Sadly, yes I am. I ate one morel, and it was wonderful, till the uncontrollable vomiting began. It was pretty much downhill from there. Granted, I haven’t tested all varieties, but both my sister and I react the same way to mushrooms. So when we hold our “I, Claudius” watching party the mushrooms will be made of meringue.
That sounds definitive.
Molly’s post has me craving morels as well, and your report has clinched the deal. I bought the cream already, now just need to track down some mushrooms and prepare to swoon. Thanks for pushing me over the edge.